Brutal massacre in Hurlingham

A man was arrested after killing his wife and four members of her family

A man killed his wife and four members of her family and wounded three other people —including a pregnant woman who suffered a miscarriage after being shot— last Sunday in the city of Hurlingham district, Greater Buenos Aires.

After the carnage that took place in two different locations, the man escaped in a motorcycle later found in Berazategui, 60 kilometres away from the place where the bloodshed took place. On Monday he was arrested in the province of Córdoba, when he was trying to run away in a long-distance bus near the city of Río Segundo.

The person under arrest is called Diego Loscalzo, he is 35 years old and works for the Urquiza train line.

On Sunday, the man had a heated discussion with his wife, a policewoman identified as Romina Maguna, who ended up shot with her own police firearm. After that, the man went after Maguna’s family, killing her sister Vanesa Maguna, her brother-in-law Darío Díaz, who later died at the Posadas Hospital. He also wounded a friend of them.

Following those brutal murders, Loscalzo headed towards the house of his wife’s parents in a neighbourhood nearby, in the city of Villa Tessei.

There he also killed his mother-in-law and his brother-in law, and wounded the latter’s wife, who was nine months pregnant and suffered a miscarriage after a bullet entered her stomach.

Loscalzo also hurt a 12-year-old girl who has been released from hospital in the last few hours.

Neighbours said later that they heard Loscalzo screaming and saying he wanted “to kill them all”, referring to his wife’s family.

According to the investigators, after that Loscalzo took his motorcycle and went to Retiro bus station, where he took a bus to Córdoba province a few hours later.

The police informed that apparently the same firearm was used for all the murders but it still couldn’t be found.

In the last hours, members of his family said that they haven’t been in contact with Loscalzo for the last two years and that they “apologised” for his acts.

Loscalzo was arrested on Monday by Córdoba police when he was travelling in a long-distance bus.

Last year Maguna filed a complaint against Loscalzo after a fight they had in their house after he stole her police firearm and a bulletproof vest.

Meanwhile, judge Alfredo Meade from the city of Morón charged Loscalzo with the aggravated homicide of five victims and two attempts of aggravated homicides using a firearm.

Yesterday, after a psychological report, the judge ordered Loscalzo to be sent to the Melchor Romero mental institution after a psychologist said he is “mentally unstable.”

“He should be sent to an institution with the suitable means for his contention and with professionals who can protect his physical integrity and third parties,” the judge ordered.

After being arrested, Loscalzo decided not to talk to the prosecutors.

Meanwhile, survivors of the massacre are still in hospital and may be released in the next few days, medical sources confirmed to Télam agency.

One of them told the press that she has many injuries in her legs after being shot at least three times.

“I pretended to be dead so that he didn’t keep shooting. He is really mad,” she recalled.

Gender violence and femicides are still rampant in the country while a woman is killed once every 30 hours in Argentina, according to the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, an Argentine non-profit group.

#NiUnaMenos (“Not One Less”) movement will expand their demands on the government next March 8 calling for a second general strike of women aimed at protesting gender violence and femicides.